Peter Singer’S Argument for Utilitarianism

The paper begins by situating Singer within the British meta-ethical tradition. It sets out the main steps in his argument for utilitarianism as the ‘default setting’ of ethical thought. It argues that Singer’s argument depends on a hierarchy of reasons, such that the ethical viewpoint is understood to be an adaptation – an extension – of a fundamental self-interest. It concludes that the argument fails because it is impossible to get from this starting-point in self-interest to his conception of the ethical point of view. The fundamental problem is its mixing the immiscible: the Humean subordination of reason to interest with the Kantian conception of reason as universal and authoritative.     

Directed forgetting in working memory: age-related differences

This study explored the effects of ageing on working memory by means of the directed forgetting procedure designed by Reed (1970). Memory for a letter trigram was compared in conditions where it was either presented alone (single-item), or followed by a second trigram to be recalled (interference), or followed by a second trigram to be forgotten (directed forgetting). The results clearly indicated that elderly participants inhibited the no-longer-relevant information less efficiently (recall in the single-item condition - recall in the directed forgetting condition), as predicted by the model of Hasher and Zacks (1988). However, the results also demonstrated that sensitivity to interference (recall in the single-item condition - recall in the interference condition) increased in the condition in which no inhibition was directly required.     

Is the unilateral lesion of the left substantia nigra pars compacta sufficient to induce working memory impairment in rats?

Adult male Wistar rats with a substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) lesion induced by intranigral administration of 1 micromol 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) were used as a model of early phase Parkinson's disease (PD). This lesion caused a partial depletion of striatal dopamine (DA). The animals were submitted to a spatial working memory version of the water maze task in which they had to find a hidden (submersed) platform using online-maintained information that the platform remains in the same place during four consecutive trials, but that it is moved to another place every training day. Left, but not right SNc-lesioned rats were impaired in finding the platform in the second trial. This result suggests that the left SNc plays a key role in spatial working memory. Control experiments ruled out the possibility that motor impairment, sensory neglect, and/or impairment in the mental representation of the contralateral spatial environment had affected performance of the SNc-lesioned rats.     

Identification of tone duration, line length, and letter position: an experimental approach to timing and working memory deficits in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia display numerous cognitive deficits, including problems in working memory, time estimation, and absolute identification of stimuli. Research in these fields has traditionally been conducted independently. We examined these cognitive processes using tasks that are structurally similar and that yield rich error data. Relative to healthy control participants (n = 20), patients with schizophrenia (n = 20) were impaired on a duration identification task and a probed-recall memory task but not on a line-length identification task. These findings do not support the notion of a global impairment in absolute identification in schizophrenia. However, the authors suggest that some aspect of temporal information processing is indeed disturbed in schizophrenia.     

Prediction of adolescent and adult delinquency from childhood Rorschach ratings

Relatively few studies have predicted adolescent or adult delinquency from childhood Rorschach data. Incremental validity of Rorschach measures over other known consistent and more easily obtained predictors has typically not been investigated. We addressed Rorschach data's incremental validity over mother's reports of externalizing behavior and mother-child relations for predicting officially registered adolescent and adult delinquency in a longitudinal study of 122 Swedish men. The Rorschach measures we used were aggregates of blind, prospectively performed, global expert ratings based on a holistic evaluation of protocols. An aggregate of Rorschach-based ratings of ego strength significantly improved the prediction of delinquency in adolescence and adulthood over and above earlier identified best predictors (mother's ratings of mother-child relations and externalizing problem behavior).     

Task-set reconfiguration with predictable and unpredictable task switches

Participants switched frequently between high/low and odd/even classification of a digit. The interval between a task cue and the next digit varied between blocks. In Experiment 1, the task switched predictably every two, four, or eight trials. In Experiment 2, switching predictably every four trials was compared with random switching. With predictable switching, the cost was limited to the first trial of a run. Random switching produced a more gradual approach to asymptotic performance. After one performance, control processes attenuate the resulting change in task-set bias if a further switch is likely, but this strategic modulation is soon overwhelmed by task-set priming through further performances. Preparation reduced switch costs but not interference from the irrelevant attribute: Control of interference appears to be reactive, not proactive. Switch costs did not increase with run length, suggesting that retrieval of the task set last associated with the stimulus did not contribute to switch costs.     

Day treatment of patients with personality disorders: experiences from a Norwegian treatment research network

This study sought to investigate the following research questions: Are time-limited day treatment programs for patients with personality disorder (PD) effective outside resourceful university settings, and what are the overall treatment results when the program is implemented on a larger scale? Do all categories and subtypes of PDs respond favorably to such treatment? How intensive should such day treatment programs be? All patients (n = 1,244) were consecutively admitted to eight different treatment programs in the Norwegian Network of Psychotherapeutic Day Hospitals from 1993 to 2000. Altogether, 1,010 patients were diagnosed with PD. Avoidant, borderline, not otherwise specified (NOS), and paranoid PD were the most common conditions. SCID-II and MINI were used as diagnostic instruments. Outcome measures included GAF Global Assessment of Functioning, (GAF; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), SCL-90R, CIP, Quality of Life, work functioning and parasuicidal behavior, measured at admittance, discharge and 1-year follow up. The attrition rate was 24%. The number of dropouts did not improve over time. As a group, completers with PD improved significantly on all outcome variables from admittance to discharge and improvement was maintained or increased at follow up. Treatment results were best for borderline PD, cluster C patients, PD NOS and No PD, and poorer for cluster A patients. Units with a high treatment dosage did not experience better outcomes than those with a low treatment dosage (10 hours per week). Results from the University unit were not better than those from units at local hospitals or mental health centers.     

A cross-modal interference effect in grasping objects

The aim of the present paper was to investigate how the kinematics of a hand reaching toward a visual target would be influenced by haptic and proprioceptive input from an unseen distractor actively grasped in the other, nonreaching hand. The main results were that the amplitude of maximum grip aperture was smaller and the time to maximum grip aperture was earlier when the distractor was smaller than the target. The interference effect from the distractor was similar for both hands as they reached. Furthermore, results from a vibrating-distractor condition for passive tactile input revealed that the interference effects were evident only when the distractor was actively grasped. We suggest that neural processing of proprioceptive and tactile information relevant to distractor size produced the observed interference effects. We also emphasize the importance of active manipulation of the distractor stimulus in eliciting such interference effects.     

Pavlov in Spain

Reflexology has been present throughout Spanish science since the last third of the nineteenth century and its importance can be seen in the works of authors such as Martín Salazar, Ramón y Cajal, Gómez Oca?a, Simarro and Turró. The most important research in Reflexology in Spain takes place a) at the Schools of Neurophysiology and Psychology in Barcelona and Madrid, b) with a group of authors specializing in pathological medicine and c) in the Military's Health Department, Pavlov's work was received in Spain with special interest. Fernández-Espa?a, who could be considered the "first Spanish Pavlovian," emphasized Pavlov's work in a series dedicated to the study of objective psychology which was published between 1914 and 1924. Planelles was the first investigator to develop a program in pavlovian experimentation, presenting his results in 1935. The Civil War (1936-1939) ended these and many other Spanish projects in psychology. After the war, interest in Reflexology and Pavlov's theories slowly rose again, first through psychosomatic medicine and then in the 60's because of the works of such authors as Monserrat-Esteve, Rof Carballo and Colodrón. The progressive inclusion of psychology in the Schools of Philosophy and Arts after 1968 marked the beginning of a new era.     

Stereotype development in Andalusian children

Social psychologists have shown a profound interest in intergroup relationships, but there are very few papers focusing on the developmental aspects that explain the psychological mechanisms involved in the construction of group and cultural identity. Our research aims to explore how the self-categorization of Andalusian children evolves. We tried to assess the degree to which they self-identify as Andalusian, Spanish, and European, and how this identification changes with age. We were also interested in the affective evaluation of different groups (French, Italian, English, German, Spanish, Catalonian, and Andalusian) made by Andalusian children. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship between self-categorization and the evaluation of these groups. Results show that the development of national (autonomous community) identity in these children is influenced by their cognitive development, as well as by the relationships among the regional communities of Spain and the relationships between Spain and other countries. The peculiarity of Andalusians as a group is that they assume both identities: Spanish and Andalusian, from a very early age. In-group favoritism is an extended phenomenon at all ages, and Andalusian children have a negative stereotype of the other Spanish groups and other European communities.